Ex-cop admits stealing police funds

January 18, 2006|By Michael Higgins, Tribune staff reporter.

A Chicago police commander who supervised more than 100 officers at the city's airports admitted Tuesday that he stole $4,000 earmarked for a ceremony to honor heroic police officers and lied when questioned by the FBI.

Michael Acosta, 59, pleaded guilty to one count of fraud in federal court in Chicago. Federal prosecutors said Acosta raised $9,000 in contributions, but only $5,000 actually went to the Police Recognition Ceremony.

"And you pocketed the other $4,000 for your own personal use. Is that right, sir?" asked U.S. District Judge Harry Leinenweber.

"Yes, sir," said Acosta.

Acosta was a police supervisor at O'Hare International and Midway Airports before he retired earlier this year.

Prosecutors said Acosta raised the money from a company that gave $7,000 and an individual who gave $2,000. They said Acosta met the individual contributor through John "Quarters" Boyle, a former city worker who was sentenced to prison in August in the city's Hired Truck scandal.

Acosta also admitted Tuesday in his plea agreement that he lied to FBI agents when he denied ever using his law enforcement position to help Boyle and denied ever providing Boyle with confidential police information.

Prosecutors said intercepted calls showed that Boyle had asked Acosta for favors. In one case, Boyle received the confidential arrest record of the employee of a masonry contractor, prosecutors said.

They said Boyle also requested that Acosta provide information from police files about the closing of a bar, release a car from an O'Hare parking lot without having to pay a hefty fee, and intervene with an airline to have Boyle's excess baggage fee waived.

In return, Acosta had access to Boyle's contacts for construction work at Acosta's daughter's house and for police fundraising, prosecutors said.

Acosta, who is free on bond, declined to comment Tuesday after the hearing. The plea agreement does not require Acosta to cooperate with investigators.

Acosta's attorney, George Collins, said his client had done wrong but noted that the guilty plea involved only the period from March 2004 to January 2005.

"I think he was a fine police officer for a very long time," Collins said. "It's just tragic, I think."

Acosta is to be sentenced May 17. Assistant U.S. Atty. Manish Shah said Tuesday in court that federal sentencing guidelines suggest a prison term of between 8 and 14 months for Acosta.

But Acosta's defense lawyers, Collins and Cynthia Giacchetti, disagree, saying the guidelines provide for a sentence of no more than 6 months, with probation as a possibility.

The dispute centers in part on whether Acosta "abused a position of trust" when he committed the crime.

Leinenweber must consider the sentencing guidelines but is not required to follow them.